Arthron

The KanohiKanohiMasks that grant powers and sustain life, they're the most vital artifact in the Matoran Universe. Arthron is the Mask of Sonar. It lets its wearer sense the movements and positions of targets by echolocation, which makes it useful in places where seeing is hard or impossible. Its best-known wearer is JallerJallerJaller served as Captain of the Ta-Koro Guard, led the Toa Inika to Voya Nui, and commanded the Toa Mahri through the recovery of the Mask of Life., who wore a version of it as a Toa MahriToa Mahri: The Toa Who Saved the UniverseThe Toa Mahri were the water breathing form of the sixth Toa team, transformed by the Mask of Life on the way down to the drowned city of Mahri Nui. They fought the Barraki for the mask and recovered it at the cost of one of their own. in the waters around Mahri NuiMahri NuiA matoran settlement that sank, survived, and was ultimately crushed beneath Voya Nui, leaving behind one of Bionicle's most poignant lost civilizations.. (BIONICLE: Makuta's Guide to the Universe; BIONICLE: Encyclopedia Updated)

Canonical Power#

The Arthron lets its wearer sense the movement and position of targets through echolocation, and it can be used to examine one's surroundings in the dark. (BIONICLE: Encyclopedia Updated)

It reports the presence and movement of things, not who or what they are. That limit shows up the first time it matters in the story. (BIONICLE Legends 8: Downfall)

Jaller's Acquisition of the Mask#

Before he was a Toa Mahri, Jaller was a Toa InikaToa Inika: six Matoran struck by lightningSix Matoran of Metru Nui chased the Toa Nuva to Voya Nui and were struck by lightning from the red star. That strike made them the Toa Inika.. When the Mask of Life turned the Inika into the Toa Mahri so they could survive in the sea around Mahri Nui, Jaller's mask became an Arthron. His is a modified version, altered in shape by the IgnikaThe Mask of Life (Kanohi Ignika), explainedA failsafe forged by the Great Beings to recharge a god. It curses everyone who touches it, and by the end of Bionicle it had learned how to be a hero.. (BIONICLE Legends 7: Prisoners of the Pit; BIONICLE: Encyclopedia Updated)

He found out what it did by accident. Trying to use his mask to dodge falling chunks of rock, he suddenly found himself hearing sounds bouncing off the objects around him. (BIONICLE Legends 7: Prisoners of the Pit)

Role Within the Toa Mahri#

The Toa Mahri fought the BarrakiThe BarrakiSix warlords who built an empire spanning most of the Matoran Universe, fell to a Brotherhood strike, and spent millennia imprisoned in the Pit. in dark, murky water where seeing an enemy coming was hard, and each of them had a new mask suited to that world. Jaller's Arthron gave him a way to sense movement around him without relying on his eyes. (BIONICLE Legends 7: Prisoners of the Pit; BIONICLE: Encyclopedia Updated)

The mask's best moment is also a lesson in its limits. In the Cord, Jaller's Arthron picked up the PirakaBionicle Piraka: the Six Skakdi Thieves Who Hunted the Mask of LifeThe Piraka were six Skakdi who quit the Dark Hunters, took over Voya Nui by posing as Toa and went after the Mask of Life in 2006. Here's who they were, how the Voya Nui story played out and what happened to them afterwards., but he couldn't tell who they were until they attacked. (BIONICLE Legends 8: Downfall)

Etymology#

The name follows the pattern of other Kanohi names in the Matoran language. The guides give its pronunciation as ARE-thronn. (BIONICLE: Encyclopedia Updated)

Scope and Limitations#

The Arthron gives a sense of where things are and how they're moving, but not the details that would identify them. Greg Farshtey has added more rules outside the stories, such as whether it can spot invisible beings, but the books only show it sensing position and movement. (BIONICLE: Encyclopedia Updated; BIONICLE Legends 8: Downfall)

Place Among the KanohiKanohiMasks that grant powers and sustain life, they're the most vital artifact in the Matoran Universe.#

The Arthron is one of the more specialised Great KanohiGreat KanohiThe most common mask type worn by Toa and other powerful beings, forged from the highest-grade Kanoka discs.. It doesn't give the general combat help of a mask like the Hau or Pakari, but in the dark water of the Toa Mahri's mission, sensing what was around them was exactly what Jaller needed. (BIONICLE: Encyclopedia Updated; BIONICLE Legends 7: Prisoners of the Pit)